I'm Right Here- SWM Sequel (Harry Styles)

Chapter 26:

When she leaves, I get up from the bed and make my way over to my suitcase. I’m planning on taking Bear to a nice restaurant but not anywhere that we have to be in formal outfits. If the night’s on my side, I’d love to take her out into town but it’ll all depend on things go. I dress in a pair of black skinny jeans, a white t-shirt that I cover up with a red plaid long sleeve shirt, and brown felt boots. I fix my hair up a bit before heading down the hallway towards Bear’s room.

She answers the door as she’s taking off her bandages. She’s wearing a black tank and skinny jeans and I follow after her as she hurries back into the bathroom. She fixes her white bow that holds her now straight hair away from her face. She rushes to put away her makeup that sprawled over the bathroom counter and comes out of the bathroom. She slides on her already tied converse and picks up a leather hoodie jacket from the foot of her bed.

“That was fast.” I comment as Bear’s hand in mine.

“I just do things fast,” Bear smiles cheekily and when I give her a dirty smile, she points a joking finger in my face “Not like that.”

We held hands as we walked down the sidewalk towards town, enjoying the lack of other people considering it was a weeknight. A while into our walk, I hear Bear slightly breathing heavy so I make my steps smaller so she doesn't have to try to hard to keep up. I walk Bear up to a Italian restaurant that has a wait outside the door and she pulls on my arm.

"C'mon Harry, the wait's to long here. Plus, I feel like I'm severely underdressed." Bear says quietly.

The people waiting outside are all dressed fancily, adorning dresses and suits. Bear squirms uneasily beside me as I continue to walk towards the door, having to push past some people to get inside. We've been at the podium for less than second but as soon as the seater sees my face, we're led into the restaurant. The place is packed but we pass through the aisle in the middle of all the tables, receiving a few curious looks.

I hold onto Bear's hand tighter as we near the back of the restaurant. It's quiet back here and when the seater pulls back a sheer black curtain, a small black booth that sits around a circular table appears. The seater leaves us to ourselves and instead of sitting across from each other, Bear and I slide in towards the center so we're sitting side by side. We joke around like we always have until our main course comes out and Bear stops talking.

When our waiter leaves, she starts to look through her bag quickly, pulling out what looks like a blush container. She opens it up to reveal a bunch of pills, taking 3 from the container and closing it quickly, all in one swift movement. She returns the container to her purse and looks sheepishly back at me.

"I won't watch." I say quietly with a kind smile and Bear nods her head curtly.

She excuses herself from the table though and the curtain falls into place behind her. In the silence, guilt comes over me. Bear still isn't comfortable enough around me yet to even take her pills in front of me. That or isn't comfortable enough with it herself. Either way, I want to make her know that it's alright. I wasn't going to let her face anything alone, I'd always be there for her. She comes back a couple minutes later, her hands empty and a forced smile on her face.

"Sorry, I'm awful at taking pills. Not to mention, they're massive." Bear blushes quietly as she returns to her seat beside me.

"You don't have to be sorry, Nat. I just don't want you to be embarrassed or nervous around me. I told you before, there's never any judgement. I love you." I smile as I take Bear's small hands in mine. She smiles and kisses me quickly, my heart still jumping.

"I love you too, Harry. I'm not used to it yet... Give me some time?" Bear asks shyly and I push her hair out of her face.

"You can have all the time in the world if that's what you need. I'm here for you." I smile and kiss her nose quickly.